SIMANIM AS A WAY OF HOLDING ONTO ACCOMPLISHMENST IN AVODAS HASHEM AND AS A WAY OF BEING REMINDED ABOUT WHAT WE WANT TO BE REMINDED ABOUTOne of the great difficulties in עבודת ה' is how does one hold onto his accomplishments. For example one focused on תפילה for a few months and gained many things; as he turns to another area in his עבודה how does he hold onto all that he gained in תפילה? בעזרת ה', we will try to offer a simple 4 part plan that can significantly help this issue.Generally in any area of עבודה there are 3 levels of השגות; 1) things which are way past you 2) things which are very much a part of you already and don’t need chizuk 3) things which are close to you but need reminding about and chizuk. We are here focusing on things in the third category.Part 1 Pick some area in your עבודת ה' and think about what third category השגותyou have in that area. Write down a few names and /or phrases which represent eachהשגה . For example: 1. It is a 3rd category thing for you to come on time to davening. Your word/ phrase for this could be “on time”, “time” and “b’zman”2. It is a 3rd category thing for you to say pezukei dzimrah with much feeling. Your word/ phrase for this could be “feeling” and “regesh”3. It is a 3rd category thing for you to say the first paragraph on Shemona Esrai with kavana. Your word/ phrase for this could be “first” and “beginning”Part 2 In our תפילהexample above 3 השגות were found. Take a piece of paper and write the first letter of each word For item 1. above that would be o,t, and b representing “on time”, “time” and “b’zman”. For item 2. above that would be f, and r representing “feeling” and “regesh”. For item 3. above that would be f, and b representing “first” and “beginning”Part 3 Form a new word or phrase by taking one letter from each of the השגות and combining them. Meaning from 1. take the “o” or the “t” or the “b”; from 2. take the “f” or the “r”; from 3. take the “f” or the “b” We can form the word “F-O-R” “F-R-O” or “B-O-B”. Pick whichever word speaks to you. This is your siman for your hasagos in davening. For example lets pick “F-O-R” which represents F-irst, O-n time, R-egesh. This simple word is your reminder for what you are working on and being mechazek on in davening. You can also build your word into a meaningful phrase like “F-O-R Hashem”Part 4 all this won’t help unless you “run into” the word. For this we have part 4. Decide on a place to put your word so you will see it and go over it around the time of davening. Be very, very practical; so many organizational methods are worth nothing because one doesn’t see what he was coming to organize (“I wrote the list but never look at it”)For example put the word on the front of your siddur. Now everytime you daven you “run into” and are reminded of what your davening is supposed to be. You can write the word with its explanation. F irst O n time R egeshThis simple siman can do great things for your davening. One can do this for all areas of his עבודת ה'. We can also use this method for different situations where we want to remind ourselves how to act. For example around one’s wife, parents or strangers. I know someone who made up the siman “S-A-G-A”representing: S-imcha A-lways calm G-iving A-lways learning as a reminder of how he wanted to be at home.For some people pictures work better than words. That person could draw up a picture where different parts of the picture represent different השגות.A Siman can carry depth as one can succinctly get to the essence of his השגות and what he wants to accomplish. I know of someone who was thinking about what he wanted to accomplish during his travel time. His goal wasn’t to learn all the time, to think all the time or to take care of phone errands all the time but some combination of those things. He came out with the word “productive”- he wanted to be productive which expressed itself through sometimes learning, sometimes thinking and sometimes taking care of phone errands. That one word hit the essence of his goal for himself. Much hatzlacha!